Ybrant Digital to offer location-based advertising on mobile

The company has entered into a partnership with LiveVana Innovations and Lepton Software, in starting a location-based mobile advertising platform for mobile service providers

Ybrant Digital, a digital marketing agency, has announced plans to introduce location-based advertising on mobile. The company has entered into a partnership with LiveVana Innovations and Lepton Software, in starting a location-based mobile advertising platform for mobile service providers.

The platform would enable mobile operators and advertisers to send ads and discount coupons to mobile subscribers, based on the subscriber's location. LiveVana and Lepton are in the process of discussions with various operators in India for setting up this platform.

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Location-based advertising (LBA) is a form of marketing and communication that uses location-tracking technology in mobile networks to target consumers with location-specific advertising on their mobile devices. Industry experts say it is still a nascent market, but with the upcoming advent of 3G, most value-added services might take the front seat in terms of delivery and popularity.

Commenting on the announcement, Suresh Reddy, chief operating officer and chairman, Ybrant Digital says in an official statement, "This partnership is the right opportunity to power Ybrant's soon-to-come local-search initiative for India."

He further claims that this platform would also allow big and small brands to target the consumers in all segments, using the mobile medium and the location of mobile subscribers.

Reddy informs afaqs! that the local search initiative in India will be launched in the next quarter. Commenting on the revenue front, he says, "The revenues can only be estimated once we tie up with operators. Right now, it's too early to comment."

This platform will reach mass channels such as SMS, IVR (interactive voice response) and USSD (unstructured supplementary service data).

Ybrant Digital offers display advertising, search marketing and lead generation services to businesses, agencies, and online publishers worldwide. It has offices in North America, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Mexico, UK, France, Germany, Serbia, Israel, India and Australia, and representatives in Scandinavia, Poland, Italy and Greece. The company had plans to bring an initial public offering (IPO) last year but probably due to weak market sentiments it shelved off its plans. Ybrant has also acquired six companies in the last decade and has revenues of $60 million (Rs 280 crore).